


Obstinance

by savagerhapsody



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 13:30:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4102738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savagerhapsody/pseuds/savagerhapsody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After LaFontaine goes missing, Laura and Carmilla share a moment. Hollstein</p>
            </blockquote>





	Obstinance

“Carmilla, LaFontaine is missing. I know for a fact you're keeping something from us. We need your help!”

“We? Us? I'm somehow unable to recall joining your merry band of nosy freaks.”

Carmilla laid on her bed, sipping a tall glass of sanguine sustenance and pointedly avoiding Laura by sticking her nose in a magazine. Laura knew she was only doing it to ignore her...unless she had a new-found obsession with 'Teen People.'

“There are lives at risk here! We've already lost four girls, and now one of my best friends has been taken by your mother and her freaky vampire cult! Are you really so morally bankrupt that you'll turn your back on innocent people?”

Carmilla scoffed.

“Uh, yeah. Have we never met? I'm Carmilla, its a pleasure.”

Laura let out an aggravated shout. She had promised LaFontaine that she would do her best to weasel information out of Carmilla. They had both agreed that the stoic bloodsucker was holding back on them, and since tying her up and starving her wasn't particularly an option any more, Laura went with the next-best tactic she could come up with: fighting with her.

“Fine! If you don't care about having innocent blood on your hands...”

Carmilla stared at her then, a blank deadpan look on her face. She pointed to the glass of blood in her hand. She then pointed to her teeth, now stained a light pink and shrugged.

“You know Laura, I've had it about up to here with you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.”

“And I've had it up to here with your callous and indifferent bull...poo.”

“Exactly which part of 'I am not risking my life on some idiotic crusade against my own mother' do you not understand?”

Frustrated, Laura walked over and snatched the magazine from Carmilla's hands. She flung it across the room, nearly taking out Carmilla's bedside lamp. 

“Do you know what I think? I think deep down somewhere in that black void that is your soul, is a good human being. Or vampire, whatever. But this 'I'm-too-cool-for-school' act isn't fooling anyone. Especially me.”

Laura could feel Carmilla's hesitation. She caught Carmilla eying the door, saw her desire to flee like she had done before. She had to keep her here until she got something.

“And why oh why do you never bother to wash your dishes? Just because I'm okay with the whole 'claret diet' does NOT mean I will be cleaning out those glasses anytime soon.”

Carmilla's gazed honed back in on Laura.

“Okay, you're not my maid, I got it. If you were, you wouldn't yammer on this much. And while we're on the subject of 'what-I-loathe-about-you', let's have a discussion about how you organized my entire library according to the Dewey Decimal System.”

“Well maybe I can't comprehend how you tolerate working in that wild chaotic jungle you call a desk.”

Some unknown period of time had elapsed and they had exhausted everything from why on earth did Carmilla insist on wearing shoes in her bed, to Laura's obsession with picking out her attire weeks in advance, and finally ending on debating on Carmilla's need to commandeer Laura's yellow pillow. While they bickered, Laura knew she had to steer Carmilla back towards LaFontaine's disappearance if she was going to get any information out of her. She was running out of time.

Exhausted, Laura leaned against the front of her wardrobe, crossing her arms.

“Carmilla, you can go ahead and keep that damn pillow if you just tell me more about what's going on.”

Carmilla balled up her fists and her gaze turned cold as steel.

“This is my final warning Laura. Stop asking.”

Laura bit her lip, and she could feel tears beginning to well in her eyes. Stay strong, don't cry in front of her she thought. Laura knew she cared. This she was sure of. Why was she being so obstinate? Why couldn't she see how dire the situation was?

“Fine. I must have been wrong about you. You're not at all the woman I believed you were. You're just a coward.”

Carmilla's lip turned up into a snarl. In less than a blink of the eye, Carmilla had Laura pinned against the wardrobe, hands cemented on either side of her head. She bared her deadly canines, stained red with blood, and let out a ferocious noise, something between a roar and a shriek. Carmilla got close in Laura's face, their noses grazing.

“Do you not understand who I am? I am a blood-sucking undead fiend from the nightmares of children. I could snap your neck like a robin's wing. I have fed on grown men and watched the life drain from their eyes. I have drunk them until they turn pale. I have walked this earth for centuries and seen all the horrors it has to offer. I am black as the pit and terrible as the night! You are a child.”

Laura said nothing. She turned her face away, tears silently streaming down her cheeks.

Seeing Laura's tears, Carmilla shamefully took a step back. She reached out as if to comfort her, but considered against it. Instead, she turned away and sat on her bed, burying her face in her hands. Laura turned to see Carmilla's shoulders shaking. She could barely manage to hear tiny sobs escaping the vampire.

Laura took a step towards her. Vampires didn't cry...right?

“I miss it. Isn't that so pathetic?”

Laura gingerly put a hand on Carmilla's shoulder, still fearful of the mood she was in.

“What is it? What do you miss?”

“Crying. God, that sounds crazy doesn't it? I mean sure, nobody likes to cry but...there's something so magically cathartic about it. At least when its over there's some peace, like the calm after a storm.”

Carmilla looked up at Laura, covering her hand with her own.

“When I was a little girl, I would cry over the silliest things. I was the daughter of a wealthy noble, my cares were few and insignificant. I cried once for an entire afternoon because my older brother had taken my best pony out for a ride before I could. But after I turned...I couldn't anymore. There's something in the process, I don't know the scientifics, but I think it sealed my tear ducts or something. I can't cry anymore. But, my body still goes through the motions as you can see. Its incredibly frustrating, you have no idea.”

Laura moved her hand to cup Carmilla's face.

“Carmilla...don't you want to be free of this? Free of your mother?”

Carmilla chuckled bitterly.

“Don't you understand? My mother has taken everything I ever loved from me. You want to take her down in one grand battle to end the war, with everything on the line. For me, this is the long game. I have time to plan and plot. I can take satisfaction in my small, insignificant victories and pray that one day the tide will turn in my favor. When you have eternities stretched out before you, it doesn't seem so horrible. I used to find humans so...impatient. But I can see now that your impatience makes you determined and efficient. I admire that.”

Laura grabbed Carmilla's hand and interlaced their fingers. Carmilla smiled and rubbed the back of Laura's hand with her thumb.

“I would rather stay in this cage for a millennium if it meant you wouldn't be harmed.”

“Carmilla, LaFontaine is already in a great deal of danger. This course of events has already set things in motion, and there's nothing we can do about that now. You're being naïve.”

Carmilla sighed and glanced down at their intertwined hands hanging between them.

“You're right. I know that. You know, I used to look up to my mother. She saved me from the gnarled jaws of Death itself. She stayed with me during my transition into this new life, and showed me how to live as I never thought possible. But after what happened with Ell...I only feel a bitter hatred. I know what she is capable of, and I fear it. You are right. I am a naïve coward.”

Carmilla hung her head in shame. Silence passed between them, heavy and thick as fog. 

Finally, Laura placed her hand underneath Carmilla's chin and guided her face upwards to look at her.

“If your mother met her well-timed end tomorrow, what would you do?”

Carmilla smiled slightly and took a moment to consider her question.

“I can't even imagine what that would look like. I'd...buy a little bit of land just a ways from here. I'd build a barn and buy a horse. His name would be Remington. I used to love riding so much. I haven't because I'm afraid of having anything I care about, anything Mother can dangle over my head as leverage. It all sounds like some wild fantasy.”

Laura took Carmilla's face in her hands.

“It doesn't have to be. Do you want to know what I would do? I would ask you on a date. I would get all dressed up and we'd go out for a romantic dinner and it would be so awkward of course, but that's half the fun. I'd hold your hand across the table and I would insist on paying...even though I'm not quite sure exactly what you're financials look like, I think its safe to say you're far better off than I am. Then we'd go to a movie—maybe a terribly stupid vampire movie. You'd tell me all the inaccuracies and we'd make fun of the love interest, and the plot, and probably the writing too. And after all that we'd come back here and we'd laugh and smile and I'd wait for you to make a move and kiss me, and you would because that's what I've been waiting for. And...it will be just as wonderful and perfect as I've always imagined it would be.”

Carmilla's jaw dropped. She was speechless for a moment, then let out a shaky breath.

“Gee muffin, you haven't thought about this at all have you?” Carmilla reached out for Laura's waist and drew her in close. “I would love nothing more, Laura.”

Carmilla sniffled and rested her ear over Laura's heart. She listened to the steady rhythmic rapture of her heartbeat. After a long and comfortable silence, Carmilla whispered,

“The head of the Alchemy Department, you should probably look into him. His name is Dr. Anton Kazimir. I've heard my mother speaking to him about the girls we take, on occasion. He hates reptiles, more than anything on this planet. I know its weird, but just trust me. That's all I know. I'm sorry.”

Laura kissed the top of Carmilla's head and untangled herself out of Carmilla's embrace. 

“Where are you going?”

Laura threw on her coat and grabbed her backpack.

“Research of course. It never ends, does it? I'm going to bring LaFontaine home. I've finally got a lead now, thanks to you.”

Carmilla hummed in response, uncertain how to respond.

“Do you want to come with me?”

Carmilla didn't meet Laura's gaze, but crossed to the window and stared out into the moonlight night.

“No. I've...got some thinking to do.”


End file.
